What Happens When Worship Songs Replace Sermons?

Every generation of the Church has had to decide what will sit at the center of its worship: the unapologetic preaching of the Word, or the aesthetic power of music. Both are gifts of God. Both belong in Christian worship. But history—and our present moment—show how easily one displaces the other.

How Culture Rewrote the Sound of Worship

Architecture often reveals theology. In the 18th century, “auditory churches” were built so that everyone could hear the preacher. Triple-decker pulpits and galleries placed proclamation at the very center. Worship was anchored in the conviction Paul gave to Timothy: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2).

But by the 19th century, priorities shifted. The Oxford Movement re-centered attention on the altar, choir, and ritual. Great cathedrals began to boast of their magnificent organs, sometimes treating them as their most prized possessions. Entire sanctuaries were designed not for the voice of the preacher, but for the resonance of the instrument.

What Changed in Between? Several cultural forces converged to displace preaching:

Progressivism & Rationalism
The Enlightenment prized reason over revelation. Sermons were pressured to become moral lectures instead of prophetic proclamations.
Romanticism & Aesthetics
The 19th century emphasized beauty, emotion, and art. Organs, choirs, and architecture became the means of transcendence while sermons lost fire.
Secular Respectability
Churches sought cultural approval in increasingly secular societies, softening sermons that once carried prophetic rebuke.
Persecution & Pressure
In parts of Europe, state oversight or hostility caused pulpits to retreat into safer tones.

The result was predictable: when the pulpit grew quieter, the music grew louder.

The Return to Preaching in the 20th Century

The 20th century, however, witnessed a recovery of expository preaching, especially in evangelicalism:

Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy
In response to liberal theology, preachers doubled down on the inerrancy of Scripture.
Revivalists like Billy Graham
Music prepared the crowd, but the sermon was always the climax. Graham would never let a crusade end without a clear call to repentance.
The Expository Movement
Leaders such as Martyn Lloyd-Jones, John Stott, James Montgomery Boice, and later John MacArthur revived confidence in verse-by-verse exposition. Seminaries built whole programs on it.

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